He swallowed, looking over at his friends and then back to me. “What else are you thinking?”

I glanced at the guys who were currently throwing raunchy remarks at each other. “That Jagger has more common sense in his pinky, but he’d like them.”

“And Grayson?”

I scrunched my nose.

Josh let out a half laugh. “Yeah, he’d have no tolerance for these guys.”

“Are you coming? Or did you grow a vagina in the last eight years?” Evan called out.

Josh flipped him the middle finger, then snapped his helmet and swung his leg over the Ducati. “Want to snuggle?”

“Very cute,” I said, climbing on behind him and then doing just that.

We followed the other three on their motorcycles through the quiet streets of Winslow, more than a few heads turning as we sped by. Josh pushed the speedometer to keep up with the others, and I didn’t give him flack, just held on tighter and tucked my head beside his.

Ten minutes or so after passing the town’s limits, we turned off the highway for a series of smaller roads. Why didn’t these things have coms? I had no way of asking Josh if he knew where we were headed.

We slowed as we passed through the gate of a chain fence, coming upon a crowd of a couple dozen people our age or younger.

Josh pulled to a stop and killed the engine. I removed my helmet. “Okay, where are we?” I asked as he helped me off the bike. His friends had already headed over to the crowd.

“Saturday night in a small town,” he answered with a grin, taking off his own helmet.

“And you know everyone?” I took off my jacket but kept my protective pants on.

Josh looked over the crowd. “More or less. Same crowd different year.” He cupped my chin. “You’re not going to want to know what I think they’re doing.”

My conscience warred with my need to know every little part of him, especially the darkest parts he kept hidden. If I couldn’t handle this, would he trust me enough to tell me about what happened to him in Afghanistan? “I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?”

“I go where you go.”

“Okay.” He took my hand and walked through the bikes and the crowd as Evan climbed up onto a wooden box everyone had gathered around.

“You made it!” he called over to Josh. “Thought we were going to lose you back there for a while, but we slowed it down for you, Walker.”

Every head turned in our direction. I looked up to Josh, and my breath stuttered in my chest.

His expression had turned hard and more determined than it ever had even while playing hockey. This…this was not my Josh. “Just letting you feel overconfident,” he called back.

Evan laughed, and the group joined. My hand tightened reflexively on Josh’s when more than a few girls raked their eyes up and down his body. “That’s right,” Evan pointed to Josh. “I’ve brought Walker home. Shall we show him what we’ve built since he’s been off flying helicopters?”

The group cheered and then split down the middle, revealing two bikes standing side by side and a long concrete road lit by road flares.

“What is this?” Josh asked.

“A failed attempt at a new airport from about six years ago,” Samuel answered.

“And what are we doing here?” I asked. Not that I didn’t already know. There was only one reason to light a path like that. They’d moved their street racing out of Winslow to this little strip.

Evan pointed to Josh with a sly grin. “He’s going to let me win back my Ducati.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

EMBER

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I said under my breath, wishing my heart would start beating again. “He’s joking, right?”

The muscle in Josh’s jaw flexed, but he didn’t take his eyes off Evan. “I don’t think he is.”

“You’re not seriously considering this, are you?”

He didn’t answer. Holy shit. He actually is.

Words failed me.

Evan hopped off the box and made his way to us. “Come on, Walker. You up for it?”

“I don’t do this anymore,” Josh said. The tiniest bit of relief leaked into me.

“You too good for us now?” Evan asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Fuck, Evan. You know it’s not like that,” Josh answered, ripping his hand over his hair.

“I’m not so sure. You don’t call, you don’t write, don’t even say hi when you’re in town.” His tone was kidding, but his eyes were anything but. “Least you can do is give me a shot at winning her back.”

“Not happening.”

Evan turned his attention to me and let his eyes openly wander. “Come on, it’s not like you ride her.”

I barely suppressed a shudder.

Josh pulled me under his arm and glared at Evan, his expression more than a little scary. “Don’t go there,” he said in almost a whisper.

Evan shrugged. “One ride. You win, you walk. You lose, and I’ll pick my bike up from your house in the morning.”

“I don’t see any reason to,” Josh answered. I wound my arm around his waist, the muscles so tense he felt like stone.

“Because you owe me. You got a fresh start and left the rest of us here to rot.” Any trace of joking bled from Evan’s voice until there was only thinly veiled hatred.